Thursday, September 6, 2012

Say NO to the Missouri Tobacco Tax Initiative

I really hate taxes – but this one really boils my blood.

Called the Missouri Tobacco Tax Initiative, this tax calls for a $.90 hike on a pack of cigarettes – and if you read Sen. McCaskill’s reasoning below…its because we have the lowest tax. In other words, a tax “Just Because”.

I also like how they hide the tax behind the auspices of “Its for the Children’s Education”. Bullshit. What about all the other taxes that pay for education? As an former State Auditor – I instead challenge Ms. McCaskill to look into mis-spending of the schools and force them to account for the money already provided.

In the end, this is just another attempt by the government to shake us down for more money…..and I know I will be exercising my right to vote, but saying NO.

FULTON, Mo. — While campaigning at college campuses this week, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill has repeatedly expressed her support of a ballot measure to raise taxes on cigarette sales in Missouri.

Missouri’s cigarette tax — 17 cents a pack — is currently the lowest nation. Proposition B, which will appear on the November ballot along with McCaskill, would raise the tax 74 cents to 90 cents a pack, still far below the national average of $1.46.

“I’m embarrassed that we have the lowest cigarette tax,” McCaskill said to college students in Columbia. If approved, most of the revenue — estimated to be more than $280 million a year — would be directed toward elementary, high school, and college education, potentially a strong boost.

Missourians have considered cigarette tax increases before and opposed them. McCaskill has repeatedly expressed her support of the tax increase, but other elected officials, she said, have been silent.

“A huge amount of elected officials don’t support increasing it or are afraid to say it publicly,” she told students in Fulton.

One elected official who has stayed mum about the issue is Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. During a news conference this week in Jefferson City, Nixon made clear he hopes to not be involved publicly in the campaign to raise the tax.

“I do not expect to be active in anyway in that campaign and we will await the verdict of Missourians this fall,” he said.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan approved language for the November ballot last month. In May, activists in favor of the increase filed 220,000 signatures with Carnahan’s office to get the measure on the ballot.